With old interpreter gone, Shohei Ohtani and Dodgers begin life without a 'buffer'

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — For the Los Angeles Dodgers, or anyone, the order of operations was simple.

If you were looking to deal with Shohei Ohtani, odds are that interaction was going to have to involve his longtime interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. After all, it was difficult to see Ohtani anywhere without Mizuhara as his shadow, from serving as his catch partner and recording his hitting mechanics to even serving as his driver. In many ways, his role and friendship with the game's superstar doubled as essentially a middle man, with their relationship dating to when Ohtani was a teenager. When Dodgers public relations officials this spring worked to coordinate the Japanese superstar's media availabilities, it would involve a conversation with Mizuhara, who presumably would run things through Ohtani's agent, Nez Balelo.

It was a part of the process, presented as a means of freeing Ohtani to focus on baseball while allowing Mizuhara to maintain the window to everything else. So much so, that in the wake of Mizuhara's firing, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday that he "would argue" removing Mizuhara from the picture "(is) gonna help relations internally."

"There's no longer a buffer, where I think that … I've already seen it," Roberts said. "The last couple of days I think Shohei has been even more engaging with his teammates, and I think there's only upside with that."

When asked directly about how the interplay worked between the organization and star player — and Mizuhara's involvement in that process — Roberts was blunt.

"It was difficult," he said.

Manager Dave Roberts, right, expects communication to flow more freely with Shohei Ohtani now. (Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)

Mizuhara's proximity to Ohtani is how the now-former interpreter was able to perpetrate an alleged theft of at least $4.5 million from Ohtani's accounts, according to the version of events that Ohtani and his representatives have put forth in recent days since Mizuhara's firing. Ohtani read from a statement Monday alleging that Mizuhara kept him in the dark on media inquiries into a series of payments from Ohtani's account to Mathew Bowyer, an alleged illegal bookmaker currently under federal investigation.

"Ippei basically didn't tell me about the media inquiry," Ohtani said Monday through his new interpreter, Will Ireton. "So Ippei has been telling everybody around that Ippei has been communicating with Shohei on all of his accounts to my representatives and to my team, and that hasn't been true."

According to Ohtani's representatives, even after the Dodgers caught wind that media reports about Mizuhara's ties to gambling were imminent, the interpreter continued to serve as the intermediary for all of the club's communication with Ohtani.

Key questions remain. Mizuhara admitted to taking money from one of Ohtani's accounts, the star player said during his statement to the media, though it's unclear how he was able to secure that level of access.

Another question is the veracity of Roberts' claim that removing Mizuhara will suddenly open a barrier held tight. For as much as Mizuhara was a regular, consistent part of Ohtani's life, Roberts argued "(Ohtani)'s been around baseball long enough. So I think it's just naturally gonna happen. But if he needs assistance or support, he has it. He knows that."

That includes Ohtani's grasp of English, which Roberts praised throughout the spring.

"I think that we're all going to be surprised how much English he knows," Roberts said. "And I think that's a good thing."

Ohtani will not be going without an interpreter for the near future. The club has moved Ireton, their manager of performance operations, into the same role he occupied when Japanese right-hander Kenta Maeda pitched for the Dodgers. Ireton earned rave reviews and a nickname from Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman: "Will the Thrill." For years, Roberts said, he voiced a desire to work in baseball operations, starting first with the club's Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City before returning to Los Angeles.

Roberts called Ireton "a secret weapon" in his role within the baseball operations department, which included advance scouting for hitters, pitchers and even helping man the TrackMan system whenever the club would hold live batting practice sessions at Dodger Stadium. The club deployed Ireton as part of their free-agent meetings with Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto this winter, and he has served as an on-field aide in helping Yamamoto acclimate to the Dodgers' coaching staff as they've onboarded his new interpreter, Yoshihiro Sonoda.

League rules mandate no more than one interpreter in the dugout during games. With Mizuhara's firing, that responsibility falls to Ireton.

"Will is a Swiss army knife and he does everything for us," Roberts said.

(Top photo of Ohtani preparing to throw on the field at Dodger Stadium on Monday: Kirby Lee / USA Today)